Servetus answered in the same tone, his spirit unbroken by abuse and by his confinement in a horrible dungeon, where he suffered from hunger, cold, vermin, and disease.

He was found guilty of heresy and sentenced to be burnt with slow fire.

Calvin said that he tried to alter the manner of execution, but there is not a shred of evidence, in the minutes of the trial or elsewhere, that he did so.

Possibly, if he made the request, it was purely formal, as were similar petitions for mercy made by the Roman inquisitors.

At any rate, while Calvin's alleged effort for mercy proved fruitless, he visited his victim in prison to read him a self-righteous and insulting lecture.